Mortality makes coexistence vulnerable in evolutionary game of rock-paper-scissors

Abstract

Multiple species in the ecosystem are believed to compete cyclically for maintaining balance in nature. The evolutionary dynamics of cyclic interaction crucially depends on different interactions representing different natural habits. Based on a rock-paper-scissors model of cyclic competition, we explore the role of mortality of individual organisms in the collective survival of a species. For this purpose a parameter called "natural death" is introduced. It is meant for bringing about the decease of an individual irrespective of any intra- and interspecific interaction. We perform a Monte Carlo simulation followed by a stability analysis of different fixed points of defined rate equations and observe that the natural death rate is surprisingly one of the most significant factors in deciding whether an ecosystem would come up with a coexistence or a single-species survival.